


never seen her act like that

by AFireInTheAttic



Series: See the Stars [5]
Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Bella Has Friends, Coffee, F/F, Familial Relationships, Family, Holding Hands, Lunch, Mind Reading, Secrets, Sisters, The Happily Ever After Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-03-01 18:26:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13300689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AFireInTheAttic/pseuds/AFireInTheAttic
Summary: "I want to talk to you," Rose said to Edythe. Her thoughts made it clear that she wanted to discuss Bella, and wanted to know if she was the person that Edythe had been texting."Okay, sure," Edythe said because she couldn't think of a way to get out of it. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to Rose, it was just...she wasn't sure what to say. Yes, I'm a lesbian, and I'm falling in love with a human; hope that's okay with you, sis!





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt “candy canes,” from the WFN Advent challenge! Also for Lupa_Barnes’ challenge, Destroy Dic(tion) December.
> 
> #stilllate

The morning began normal enough, with everyone getting into the car 25 minutes before the first bell. Edythe drove, as always, and today, Rose slid into the front seat instead of Emmett. 

"I want to talk to you," she said to Edythe. Her thoughts made it clear that she wanted to discuss Bella, and wanted to know if she was the person that Edythe had been texting.

"Okay, sure," Edythe said because she couldn't think of a way to get out of it. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to Rose, it was just...she wasn't sure what to say. Yes, I'm a lesbian, and I'm falling in love with a human; hope that's okay with you, sis! That would definitely go over well. 

Rose sent a pointed thought her way. 'Have you been texting Bella?'

"Yes," Edythe said aloud. 

'Why?' was her immediate response, but she quickly clarified. 'Are you trying to gauge how much she knows? Are you trying to keep her from being too interested in us? Is this about the kiss at the hospital? I still want to know why you let that happen.' She and Rose had been sisters long enough that they knew how to have a private conversation. All yes and no questions, which required completely honest answers. Any clarifications were to wait for a more private location. She was glad to see that Rose was being respectful enough to do it this way.

"Yes. To an extent. Yes. I'll tell you later." 

'What about the kiss? Wait. Did you enjoy the kiss? Do you like her?' Her sister really was quite clever. Edythe had wondered at times if she did have some sort of gift, just something so subtle that no one had noticed. Her above average ability to suss out people's intentions was really quite impressive, even if it wasn't a 100% guarantee. 

Edythe gave Rose a searching look, trying to figure out how the answer would be received. "...Yes." 

'To both?'

She nodded. 

"Want to share with the rest of us?" Alice asked from the back seat. "I just keep getting yes/no answers."

"Must suck to be normal," Emmett teased. He didn't seem all that interested in whatever his wife was discussing with Edythe. Perhaps they'd already discussed it. 

"Here's a thought," Rose said, turning around in her seat. "Stay out of our business." 

This was the typical exchange that happened whenever Rose and Edythe had one of their private conversations. It hadn’t gotten any less funny over time.

She didn't ask any other questions until they were close to the school. 'Be careful. I know you know that, but...You really like this girl, huh?'

"Yes."

'Okay. I don’t like this. But...we can fight after school. And it's not because she's a girl, so don't worry on that front.'

"Thank you," Edythe said. She had remembered Alice's statement from before, so she'd been trying not to worry, but hearing it from Rose, who was more pragmatic than the rest of them...it made her feel better. Maybe the others would be fine with it, too. She wondered who else would be concerned about her pursuing a relationship with a human. Jasper, certainly. Possibly Emmett, depending on how strongly Rose felt. 

'I think you're stupid, though,' Rose thought, and climbed out of the car as they pulled to a stop. 'Where do you even expect this to go?' She waited for Emmett to join her before walking away.

"Not sure yet," she admitted. She did not want to go to school, though. The parking lot was filling up, but Bella's truck wasn't there yet. Maybe...she could get her...coffee?

"Try a Candy Cane Latte," Alice said, as she left the car. She grabbed Jasper's hand and the two of them walked off, headed for their classes. Jasper always liked to be one of the first students in class, so he could adjust to the smells slowly.

Edythe sighed. Okay. So a Candy Cane Latte. There was a coffee shop nearby, perhaps a mile from the school. She would be back in less than ten minutes, plenty of time to give Bella coffee. 

If she dropped it off at her class.

Regardless, she wouldn't mind. She drove down the main road and parked there. Sure enough, the sign out front advertised their Candy Cane Lattes. It seemed a bit late in the season for that, but maybe they had an excess of candy canes and saw no reason to stop selling them. 

Whatever the case, Edythe trusted Alice. Bella would like the latte, so she would buy it. 

There was a handful of people in line, but most of them were buying brewed coffee. Jessica Stanley was in line, looking as though she'd rather be back in bed. She didn't notice Edythe until both of them had already ordered and were waiting on their drinks. She didn't say anything, though, just looked at Edythe oddly. 

Of course, Jessica’s mind was an open book.

'What's she doing here?' she wondered. 

Her confusion mostly seemed to be based on the fact that she'd never seen Edythe here before, but also from noticing how little they all ate. 

Which was not ideal. They would need to be more subtle. 

"Jessica, right?" Maybe she could distract her. 

'Wow, she can speak to us mere mortals?' Her thoughts did take a turn, which was probably a good sign, and the accidental accuracy was pretty hilarious. "Yeah. How's it going?" 

"I’m well," she said. What did humans discuss, besides the weather? "Cold out there, huh?"

She nodded, still completely baffled that Edythe chatting with her. "Good time for a hot drink." 

"Definitely." She searched Jessica's mind for another conversation topic. "Don't you have first period with Bella?"

"Bella Swan?" Her voice had taken on a whole new level of disbelief. 'I knew Bella was obsessed with the Cullens, but I can't believe they noticed! God that's awkward.'

Edythe managed not to grimace. Jessica's thoughts weren't out of the ordinary for human teens, but it did goad her a bit to hear her think of Bella that way. "Yes. We've been texting."

'Oh! My God! I'm going to kill her for not telling me about this!'

"About Biology," she tacked on quickly. "We're lab partners."

"Oh," Jessica said. 'Damn. Here I thought someone might actually have an in on the Cullens.' 

"Large soy chai!" the barista called. 

Jessica rushed up to it, but came back to talk to Edythe again. "Bella isn't in my first period class, but she's in Mike's. English, with Mr. Mason." 

"Thanks," Edythe said, smiling. "I need to go over some homework with her." 

"Totally," Jessica replied. 'Edythe is way nicer than I thought she was.' 

She tried not to take that personally. Undoubtedly it was just...the way they came off, being so distant. "Have a nice day."

"You, too!"

Edythe grabbed her latte when it came up and hurried back to school. As she parked, she noticed that Bella's truck was there, now. She was going to be late to class, but she shouldn't have a problem getting it to her before the final bell. It was especially lucky that Bella's class was near the parking lot. 

Bella was seated in the middle of the room behind Eric and next to Mike, both of whom were clearly vying for her attention. She seemed a little overwhelmed by it, but not in any immediate danger. Even so, when she saw Edythe walking toward her, a look of relief fluttered across her face. "Hi," she said. 

"Hey," Edythe said. "I wanted to talk to you about the homework, but I'm a little too late." The lie was mostly for Jessica's benefit, because she was certain that the girl would try to get answers out of Bella at lunch later that day. 

"That's okay," Bella said. She looked a little confused, though—probably because there wasn't any homework for them to discuss. "How are you today?"

"Very well," she said honestly. She remembered the drink in her hands suddenly, and set it down on Bella's desk. "I picked this up for you." 

"Oh," Bella said, eyes going wide. She picked it up and took a sip. "Peppermint?"

"It’s a Candy Cane Latte," she said, laughing a little. 

She took the lid off and laughed. "There's peppermint shavings on the top. That's cute. Thank you." She blushed brightly.

"No problem," Edythe said. She was certain that if it could, her face would be flushed just as red as Bella's. "Could we meet up at lunch to discuss the homework?"

As startled as Bella seemed, she immediately said, "Yes!" 

Mike broke in. "Edythe, why don't you sit with all of us at lunch?" 

The offer wasn't nearly as chivalrous as he wanted it to seem, though he couldn't know that Edythe heard him thinking that he didn't want to miss an opportunity to wear Bella down. (He didn’t think of it that way, of course.)

Still...it might be a good way to dissuade all of them from figuring it out. "Okay. See you then?"

"Yeah," Bella said. Her thoughts were as hidden as ever, but Edythe could read her face, at least to some extent. She was excited.

She couldn't help but be excited herself. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The big mood for this universe is that Edythe and Bella are gonna have friends and family that are Good.
> 
> Jessica doesn't come across great in this part, but that's only because we're hearing her thoughts. She does like Bella, but yanno. There's no filter in your brain. I think that's why Edythe/Edward has such a low opinion of humans in Forks. Jessica and Bella are still figuring each other out, but at the end of the day, they are friends. For sure!
> 
> Also, yes, this is gonna be two chapters! Unless the next one requires a third one! Maybe I should have posted all of this as one fic, but I think posting it as a series of one/two shots makes it easier for me to continue writing it, whereas if I say its an incomplete single story, I get anxious and would probably never finish it ha ha.
> 
> So: up next is lunchtime, from Bella's point of view. We'll see more of her friends, maybe Edythe will even make some friends, too :)


	2. Chapter 2

Bella wasn't ashamed to admit, at least in her own mind, that she stared after Edythe as she left. She wasn't the only one—practically every one in the room seemed startled by Edythe's brief appearance.

"You know, I don't think she's ever sat with anyone but her family, as long as she's been here," Eric said thoughtfully. "Can I sit with you at lunch, too?"

Mike frowned. "Sure, whatever. Hey, I thought we didn't have homework in biology. Do you guys have another class together or something?"

"Um, no," Bella said, finally glancing over at Mike. "Maybe it's an extra credit assignment or something like that."

Mike didn't really seem convinced, but Bella elected not to care. After all, she wasn't convinced, either. There definitely wasn't any work for the two of them to discuss. It was more likely that Edythe had just made up an excuse to come talk to her.

She felt her face warming up again and took another drink of her latte. So Edythe really _did_ like her, then.

"Isn't she like a genius, though? Why would she need extra credit?" Eric wondered.

Bella thought about it that carefully. It wasn't really something she had considered before then. Was Edythe smarter than average? Certainly. But maybe that was just because she never seemed to forget anything, at least as far as their text messages seemed to go. And if she was also functionally immortal, than she'd probably gone through high school enough times that she remembered most everything. As much as knowledge might change over the years, Edythe could probably keep up with it if she never forgot anything at all.

Bella frowned slightly. Who the hell wanted to keep repeating high school over and over? It sounded awful. The Cullens—if they were all as immortal as Edythe, which she suspected they were—must be a special sort of masochistic.

"I don't know," Bella said aloud. She didn't like the idea of anyone else solving the mystery of the Cullens. She'd need to dissuade Mike and Eric from figuring this out. "Maybe even geniuses worry about keeping their grades up."

* * *

Before Spanish started, Jessica grabbed her arm and pulled her close, so they were leaning across the aisle between their desks. "Hey, so Edythe Cullen—" She stopped, having noticed the nearly finished latte on Bella's desk. "Where did you get that? I didn't see you at Mocha Motion[1] this morning."

"Oh," she said, suddenly feeling shy. "Um, Edythe got it for me."

Jessica's mouth popped open, but no sound came out. Abruptly, she shut it, a series of thoughts seeming to cross her face. "Oh. That's nice." She then released her arm and turned to face the front of the room.

Even though her arm had been released, Bella was still leaning across the aisle. One of Jessica's most notorious characteristics was her nose for gossip, and this had to be juicy, but she had just...stopped.

Jessica glanced over at her. "Class is about to start," she said simply.

There were still two minutes before the final bell would ring, but Bella sensed she wouldn't get any more of an answer for the moment. She leaned back into her own chair.

A strange thought crossed her mind. Had Jessica figured them out? Was she cutting Bella out of her friendship? Or was she being respectful?

It was way too weird, and Bella didn't think she would find anything out, at least right then. She resolved to text Jessica about it after school if she didn't find anything out before then.

For now—well, class _was_ about to start.

* * *

Lunch came both faster and slower than Bella would have liked. She was nervous about seeing Edythe, and nervous that her friends would find out what was really going on. It wasn't that she was ashamed or anything, but she really didn't know what the mood in Forks was in regards to queer people. Would she even have friends at the end of this lunch?

But...she was also desperately excited that Edythe was choosing to spend so much time with her, and in person, not just over text (which was great, but not the same).

Jessica walked with her, excitedly talking about an upcoming dance. "I know its early, but I was really wondering...well, I was thinking about asking Mike to come with me," she said.

"That's a great idea," Bella enthused. In one sense, she was selfishly happy that if Jessica asked Mike, he might be too distracted to bother her any more, and they could actually be friends. But she also loved the idea of the two of them together. She thought, in their own way, that they would really work together. They were both so upbeat and chatty.

"Really?" Jessica said, pulling Bella to a stop so she could search her face. "I thought you might want to ask him."

"No, really!" she said reassuringly, touching Jessica's arm. "I only think of Mike as a friend. But I think you two would be really good together."

She was suprised to see Jessica's slight frown, but it was quickly hidden with a smile. "Okay. Thanks so much, Bella." She looped her arm thought Bella's and tugged her along to the cafeteria.

When they reached the double doors that opened into the loud room, they split up, Jessica going straight to their table and Bella joining the lunch line. Jessica always brought her lunch, because there weren't enough kosher items available for her to eat at the school[2].

Edythe joined Bella in line. "Hi," she said, softly. She smiled at her dazzlingly, and Bella sucked in a sharp breath. Was it even possible for someone to be so beautiful? "Would you mind if we shared lunch today?"

"Um, no," Bella said. She tore her eyes away, certain that if she stared any longer, she might faint. "Is vegetarian food okay? I don't really trust anyone else to cook meat for me."

She laughed, mostly to herself. "Yeah, no problem. I hear its better for the environment, anyway."

They moved through the line slowly. Bella picked out more food than she normally would, since Edythe was going to be sharing with her.

A PB&J sandwich, split in half.

Edythe was close enough to her that she could reach over and grab her hand.

Cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes to dip in ranch.

She carefully moved her arm to brush her fingers against Edythe's cold fingers softly.

Edythe froze, but didn't pull her hand away. How could anyone stand so stiffly? Why were her hands so cold? The weather wasn't nearly as bad today, still cold, but not cold enough to do this.

She traced her fingers over Edythe's knuckles ever so slightly, intrigued by the temperature and the smooth texture.

They moved forward in the line, hands falling apart, and Edythe seemed to come back to life.

A scoop of mashed potatoes and green beans. It should be enough, since she'd go home in just a few hours and could get a snack there, too. Edythe picked up a coke, a water bottle, and a pint of chocolate milk when they reached the cooler, and then paid for the food before Bella could get her wallet out. She also swiped the tray from Bella's hands. "Where to?" she asked.

She didn't really need the question answered, of course—Edythe had been in Forks long enough to know where Mike sat at lunch.

Jessica appeared to be championing them; she'd put her purse and her backpack into two seats next to each other, at the edge of the table, and had sat herself down between the two chairs and Mike, who obviously looked put out. As they drew closer, Jessica was saying, "They have work to do, Mike!"

Angela greeted them as they sit down. She was across from Jessica, watching the two of them bicker with a look caught between amusement and...something Bella couldn't quite identify. Protectiveness, maybe.

She didn't get time to wonder about it, though. People have noticed Edythe sitting down at the wrong table, including her family, who mostly look annoyed, and in Rosalie's case, worried. Everyone else just seems flummoxed.

"So, what was the homework you wanted help with?" Bella asked, loudly enough that the nearby tables could hear it and spread the word. She really did feel protective of whatever their secret was, and she wasn't going to let everyone stare them down and figure something out.

Edythe smiled and opened the water bottle. She nudged the coke and the milk towards Bella before sipping the water. "Hold on," she said. She grabbed a carrot, stuck it in her mouth, and then leaned down to open her backpack.

She couldn't help but stare. Had Edythe just... spat the carrot into a box?

She sat up, no carrot in her mouth, but a binder in hand.

Okay, she definitely had. Did she not eat anything? Like, ever?

She frowned, but didn't say anything. She could ask her about it later, when no one was listening in. "How did you know my favorite drinks?" she asked, opening the milk first. Maybe they were obvious choices—who didn't like chocolate milk? And coke, of course, was a classic. But... there had been a lot of options.

"Just guessed," Edythe said, but she didn't look at Bella, staring instead at her binder. She seemed almost...shy. Maybe she had been watching Bella, the way Bella had watched her.

She felt a curl of pleasure, that was accompanied by a blush, because why wouldn't it be? She waited as Edythe flipped through a few pages and opened up an English assignment. "I noticed that you had your own copy of Pride and Prejudice. I was wondering if you could help me come up with a unique essay topic for this."

Bella leaned over and started to read the assignment. Her arm pressed against Edythe's, so she felt how still Edythe went against her. Once again, she was startled by it. She was so still she may as well have been a statue sitting in the seat next to her. Was she even human?

Of course, once she had the thought, she couldn't unthink it. She barely processed the reading assingment, needing to read it three times before she got through it. "Um, that's a good question," she said thoughtfully. She always liked more open-ended prompts, and this one definitely fell under that category.

Before she could come up with anything, though, Eric arrived at the table, dropping into the seat across from Edythe. "What's up?" he asked the table at large.

"Lunch," Mike said, and flicked a green bean at him.

"No!" Jessica snapped, grabbing Mike's arm before he could any other food flying. "No food fights!"

"Yes, please don't," Angela said to Eric, not unkindly.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, mom." Then he turned his attention to Edythe and Bella. "So, how's homework?"

"We were just starting," Edythe said. Her tone had a slight edge, but when Bella glanced over at her, her face was impassive. She "ate" another carrot.

Which reminded Bella that she actually did need to eat some of this food. She grabbed half of the sandwich and stuffed it in her mouth, partially to avoid having to say anything. She honestly felt a bit out of depth. As much as she wanted to allay suspicion from her friends, she also didn't really know how to. She knew well enough how to act straight, but protecting Edythe's inhuman (or maybe super human?) nature was proving to be too much of a challenge.

"Is it for bio?"

"No, the upcoming English essay on Pride and Prejudice."

"Ohhh, that," Eric said, frowning slightly. "I haven't even finished reading the book yet. Aren't we only meant to be three chapters in?"

"Yes, but I like to work ahead." Edythe seemed to be relaxing slightly, though her face showed no difference at all. Maybe she was just as nervous as Bella was. "And I knew that Bella was a big fan of the book."

"Really?" Angela asked.

Bella quickly swallowed the bite she had taken and nodded. "I think I read it the first time when I was 12."

She smiled in response. "That's nice. I've tried a few times, but I've never been able to get past the parts with Wickham."

"That's fair," Edythe said.

"He's a real asshole," Bella agreed.

The smile on Angela's face, already gentle by nature, seemed to become even softer. "I'll give it another try, since you like it so much, Bella."

"And because it's an assignment," Jessica jumped in, laughing.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Mike sighed. "I haven't even started."

The conversation devolved after that. Since Edythe was acting normal, everyone else seemed to follow suit, just treating her like an unexpected guest, rather than a museum exhibit. They looped her in and out of conversations while she and Bella discussed the prompt.

At one point, Edythe moved her chair closer to Bella, enough that their knees were touching. Her knee was still cold, but she was relaxed instead of stiff, and Bella couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, Edythe!" Jessica said suddenly, leaning around Bella. "Why don't you come with us to Port Angeles? We're going to go shopping for dresses for the dance."

"Oh," Edythe said, frowning slightly. "Um, when are you going?" She glanced over at Bella, like she was looking for permission.

"I'm not going to the dance," Bella said quickly. "But I'd be happy to help you pick out dresses, of course."

"Why aren't you going?" Mike demanded, leaning around Jessica, who was still leaning forward. His shirt nearly touched his mashed potatoes.

"I don't dance," she said simply.

He frowned at her. "But I thought—"

"She isn't going," Jess said firmly, though she looked disappointed, and Bella was very certain that this wouldn't be the last she heard of it, at least not from Jess.

"Do you just not have someone to ask?" Eric asked. "Because you could always ask m—"

"It's not that," she said hastily. She needed an excuse, stat. "I'm...going out of town on the weekend of the dance."

"Where?" Mike asked.

"Seattle." Another random answer, but it would do well enough.

Jess was obviously becoming irritated with the conversation, which Bella was honestly grateful for. She was irritated, too. "She's not coming. Anyway, Edythe? Do you want to come with us?"

"Who all will be there?" Edythe asked slowly.

"Just me, Bella, and Angela[3]."

Edythe searched her face, then glanced at Bella, who smiled encouragingly. "Okay," she agreed. "When would this be?"

"Next friday," Angela said, smiling.

She nodded. "Okay, but I think I'll need to drive up after you guys that day... I have a meeting with a teacher after school."

"We could wait for you," Jess said.

"No, really, I don't want to take any time away from you guys. I'll just text you when I make it to town and meet up with you," she said swiftly.

Bella was kind of reeling from Edythe's agreement. She hadn't actually expected it, but she found that she was happy about it. Not only was Edythe choosing to spend time with her, but her friends like Edythe enough to invite her along. And Edythe was willing to come, even if she obviously just wanted to drive herself.

She nudged Edythe's knee with her own and smiled at her. "Can't wait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] I looked up coffee shops in Forks just out of curiousity, and this name was way too hilarious/adorable not to use.
> 
> [2] I saw a headcanon about Jessica/Jeremy being Jewish (based mainly on their hair!) and I absolutly loved it. I also love the idea that they are black and Jewish, so I'll probably confirm that later in the series. :)
> 
> [3] Lauren who???
> 
> (Sadly, linking footnotes doesn't work on multi chaptered works)
> 
> Edit 8/12: There was a typo where Eric was called Erica. It's been updated! Thank you to DracoOblivion for catching it <3  
> Edit 1/7/19: Toward the end, Bella now begins referring to Jessica as Jess. Basically, they become close enough friends to the point that Bella, although internally, gives her a nickname.
> 
> So this took a different direction than I thought it would as I wrote it, and as I mentioned in a reply to a comment, I lost my initial draft. But I really like this, actually, though it's more dialogue based than thoughts based, which is a bit different than the previous installments of this series.
> 
> The next installment is also going to be pretty different, because we're gonna go back in time to right after Rosalie was changed! I'm about halfway finished with it, so keep an eye out!


	3. Girl Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise? I realized there was more to this specific part...maybe a fourth chapter will follow, maybe not.

Edythe usually walked alone to biology, or on occasion with Emmett, who had a history class nearby, depending on whether he walked with Rose.

Today as she left the cafeteria, she found herself drawn into Angela and Bella’s group. Mike would have been a part of it, except that Jessica, believing now was the time to make it happen, according to her thoughts, had grabbed Mike’s arm and held him back to ask him to the dance.

Emmett couldn’t have joined them subtly. It wasn’t exactly his forte.

Hanging out with humans was...different than Edythe had expected. For one thing, she had thought she knew all of them from their thoughts, but they’d all been...different, out loud. Like Jessica quickly defending Bella’s choices, even though she was planning to convince her to come later. And she seemed to be of two minds about Mike, like she wasn’t actually sure she should go with him.

Angela was like she had expected, though—kind and protective. She quietly told Bella, as they walked, that she and Jessica had gone to every dance together since middle school. “Jess never makes me dance to slow songs,” she said, smiling a little. “All of the guys here are...assholes. I’ll probably ask someone just to keep her happy, but, well.” She shrugged. “It will just be so everyone leaves me alone.”

“You and Jessica have been friends for a long time,” Bella commented.

“Since she moved here,” Angela said. Her thoughts were wistful, just a short flurry of memories the two of them shared. “She’s...my best friend.”

Bella glanced at her oddly.

Edythe wished she could read Bella’s thoughts, but that was nothing new.

“Who are you thinking of asking?” Bella wondered.

She shrugged in response. “Eric, maybe.”

“Really?” Edythe couldn’t stop herself from blurting. Angela was kind, but she had been annoyed with Eric—and Mike, for that matter—all through lunch. She didn’t seem all that thrilled about asking him now.

She just nodded, though she was grimacing. “I...think it’s for the best.” Confusingly, she thought of her father, patting her shoulder gently.

Edythe stared at her, once again at a loss. She had thought she understood humans prior to this lunch, but it was rapidly becoming clear that she didn’t have a clue.

When they reached class, Angela split off from them and took her seat. Edythe was actually a little disappointed not to spend more time with her—she was curious about Angela, too. Not in the same way she was captivated by Bella, but still.

“So, you don’t eat food,” Bella murmured as they sat down at their lab table. She raised an eyebrow at her, obviously curious.

“Well,” she said, thrown that she’d noticed. She’d thought the box in her backpack was fairly subtle. No one else has noticed. “Not that food?” It was embarrassing, really, how being around her seemed to make Edythe forget every lie she’d been practicing her whole life.

“Noted,” Bella said with a small grin.

She groaned a little. “Bella,” she whined.

She just grinned and patted her arm.

Edythe didn’t flinch—having had Bella so close throughout lunch made all of ...this a little easier. She breathed carefully, her arm still tingling where Bella had touched it. This was nothing compared to when Bella had leaned against her, which had practically sent her brain into hyperdrive, and shot her bloodlust to the ceiling, but every touch meant something, and it was enough to overwhelm her. Emotionally speaking. She wouldn’t kill Bella, no matter how good she smelled. She wasn’t even hungry—she’d hunted the night before, and there was still a carrot-like taste in her mouth, nauseating her.

So she could do this.

Carefully, Edythe put her hand under the table, and touched Bella’s leg, just above her knee.

It wasn’t like she was still living in 1918. People touched each other more, now. Hell, even Edythe herself had wrestled and cuddled with all of her “siblings.” This touch shouldn’t have been a big deal, but the truth was—the truth was that everything with Bella was a big deal.

Bella moved her hand to cover Edythe’s. She carefully—delicately, almost—flipped her hand so it rested palm up on her leg, and took it in her own.

She had to keep from hyperventilating on top of not crushing her hand. God, she was a mess. They held hands for two minutes and thirteen seconds before Edythe had to pull away, too overwhelmed.

Bella was blushing again, staring straight ahead.

Edythe felt more and more flustered as they sat next to each other without talking. Carefully, she ripped a small corner of notebook paper, and drew a small smiling face. She slid the paper across the desk.

Bella looked down at it, glanced over at Edythe, and smiled.

For the most part, Edythe had been ignoring thoughts. She’d gotten pretty good at it over the years, which was to be expected.

Still, she couldn’t entirely drown out her siblings incessant questioning.

Emmett and Jasper mostly seemed confused by the situation. Emmett pointedly thought, more than once, ‘It’s kind of weird that you’re hanging out with someone we all considered killing not one month ago.’

‘Do you realize that if this goes wrong, you’ve now publicly attached yourself to her?’ Jasper asked.

‘By kind of weird, I mean really fucking weird!’ Emmett was kind of stuck on that.

Edythe...couldn’t blame him. And they were both right, it was just...the more time she spent with Bella, the less she wanted to think about it.

Not that it meant she hadn’t thought about it.

She was agonizing over it, in fact, caught up wondering whether their feelings for each other were more important than their respective safety. Bella could die with just one wrong move, and if anyone in Italy found out how close the two of them were getting...it wouldn’t end well.

Edythe sighed, and Bella sent an odd look her way. “You okay?” She mouthed.

She just nodded, although she definitely was not okay. A big part of her wanted to eat the first person she’d ever had feelings for. How was that supposed to be okay?

She knew that she tended to be somewhat morose when it came to matters of...well, everything. She wasn’t sure she had ever had a soul on most days, and on days when she thought she might, she knew it had darkened.

Back when Rose was new to the family, Edythe had told her that killing was a heavy burden on the soul. Rose had wondered if it mattered, but her list of people to kill was already limited. She didn’t think about it, any more, so Edythe figured it hadn’t pierced her soul in the same way.

She couldn’t make up her mind about this. Being with Bella had so much good potential—Alice had showed her that, and in fact was happily running over visions at the moment, enough that Edythe could have stopped thinking and looked through them herself.

But there were also Emmett and Jasper’s concerns to consider. This was a huge risk not only for Bella, but her whole family, too.

She was asking a lot of them. Maybe she shouldn’t do this.

Across the school, Rosalie abruptly stopped reciting Les Misérables andthought, clear as a bell, ‘Let’s skip 7th period.’ Then she pictured the spot in the woods just outside of the schoolyard very clearly, and went back to reciting, this time going through Frankenstein.

After a moment, when Alice had a flash of a vision, she thought, ‘I’m coming, too! And you better talk out loud.’

Well, Rose shouldn’t be too surprised. It had been too long since their last girl talk session, anyway.

* * *

Alice and Rose both beat her to the spot, and were hissing at each other in tones too low for Edythe to hear as she approached them.

“This is a huge fucking risk,” Rose said when she noticed Edythe.

“A calculated one!” Alice said defensively.

Rose actually rolled her eyes at that, and scornfully remarked, “She’s in love! I’ve been in love, and I know nothing is all that calculated.”

Both of them were probably right.

She came to stand next to them with a sigh. “I’m not in love, yet,” she pointed out.

Rose searched her face. “I just don’t get it. When we talked this morning I thought you were being stupid because I was pretty sure Bella was going to find out the secret. I didn’t think you were going to be even dumber—“

“That’s not fair,” Alice tried to cut in.

“Even dumber!” Rose snapped, glaring at her. “And go public with her! Now if something happens, you two are going to be linked. It’s not just you in danger, you know.”

“I do know that.” It had been on her mind all day. The main reason she worried about it, aside from the fact that she might accidentally kill her first...girlfriend (they’d need to talk about that soon), was the idea that her family would get scrutinized pretty closely. Not to mention that the treaty with the Quiluetes would get broken. It was all dangerous.

“Maybe you’re right...” she said slowly. Even as she said it, she felt extreme despair well up. If she couldn’t be with Bella, what was the point of living? That day in the hospital, when they’d kissed, her world had been rocked, settled onto a new course. If she gave up on this relationship, she was absolutely sure that she would never be happy again.

“If Edythe doesn’t pursue this,” Alice broke in. “She’s always going to wonder if she should have. And she’s never going to be happy.”

Rose frowned, obviously not thrilled with that idea. “You can see that?”

“Edythe keeps changing her mind,” she said with a shrug. “It’s kind of like emotional whiplash, honestly.”

Edythe wondered if she should feel offended that the two of them were practically discussing her like she wasn’t there.

“Imagine not being with Emmett,” Alice continued.

Rose did seem distressed, then, apparently unable to comprehend it. It made sense; Edythe could remember when she’d first been turned, and how unhappy she had been, until Emmett came into her life. “Do you think Bella is the one?”

“Yes,” she said, before she really thought it through.

She didn’t need to think about it, though—she already knew.

And although she loved Rose, Edythe suddenly realized that her opinion wouldn’t be modified by her sister’s. She’d decided.

Alice grinned and clapped her hands. “It’s going to be fine,” she promised both of them. “Now, about dress shopping for the dance. Are you thinking of going?”

She grimaced. She wasn’t particularly opposed to going to dances, though she usually didn’t. Her siblings, paired off as they were, usually enjoyed themselves well enough, but if she tagged along, she was normally bored, or worse, lonely. “Bella isn’t going,” she hedged.

“You could totally change her mind,” Alice suggested.

She shook her head. “I’m not sure about that.” Bella hadn’t even asked if Edythe would be there before saying she wouldn’t be—she clearly hadn’t wanted to go at all. And she’d already realized that Bella was incredibly stubborn.

“I still think Bella would go if you asked,” Alice argued.

“Well maybe I don’t want to go.”

Rose clicked her tongue. “Smart move, getting out of the carpool. I guess you’re not totally stupid.”

Edythe rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

Rose just laughed, and darted close enough to ruffle her hair. “Take Bella to the dance. We’ll watch out for you.” She smiled tightly.

“Really?” It wasn’t that Edythe was surprised that Rose cared for her—they weren’t just sisters, they were friends, too—but such a quick turnaround was surprising.

“Really,” Rose agreed. “I—we care about you. And your happiness. If Bella is a part of that...we’ll make it work. I can’t say I’m completely on board with this, because I can’t imagine a future for you that goes well, but I want you to have the present.”

“Uh, hello? I can see that future. Nine out of...twenty times...it goes just fine.”

Both Rose and Edythe grimaced at Alice. “Not the best numbers,” Rose pointed out.

“Sure, but I’m getting more and more positives. Before this conversation it was probably...three out of ten.”

Edythe sighed. She would never get a 100% surety, but more than 50% would be nice. “When I fail, what happens?”

A flurry of images—Bella dead in her bedroom, Bella dead in her truck, Bella lying still in a forest, obviously alive because she was sobbing, not bleeding, just...alone. And Edythe, standing in a sunny courtyard in Volterra,glittering.

“I can’t figure the last one out,” Alice said with a frown. Then her eyes widened. “Edythe, you’re shaking!”

Edythe hardly processed it. She was in too much of a panic. She was a fool to think any of this would work.

Rose was at her side in an instant, wrapping an arm around her. “Good endings, please,” she ordered.

Bella with golden eyes, Bella in a wedding dress, Bella running in the forest and hunting with Edythe, Bella’s tombstone 80 years later.

Much easier to swallow. Still, “Bella shouldn’t be a vampire.”

“Why not?” Alice demanded.

“Of course not,” Rose agreed at the same time.

The two of them shot glares at each other.

“This life is cursed!” Edythe insisted.

Rose nodded.

“Stop being dramatic!” Alice said. “Once you get past the blood, it’s fine! Anyway, I saw the same golden eyes you did, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“That’s easy for you to say!” Rose snapped. “You don’t even—“ she abruptly cut herself off.

Edythe couldn’t help but feel grateful. She knew exactly what Rose had been about to say.

Of course, so did Alice.

“Just because I don’t remember my human life doesn’t mean I didn’t struggle to adjust! You try waking up alone and tell me I had it easy!” Alice was hurt—whenever it came down to this sort of thing, both she and Rose always ended up on bad terms, hurting in their own ways.

Edythe needed to deescalate the situation before the two of them hurt worse. “Hey, let’s be fair. Neither of you have had an easy time. And Bella’s situation, whatever it will be, won’t be like either of yours.”

The two of them shifted uncomfortably, though she could hear them mentally calming down.

“I’m sorry, Alice,” Rose finally sighed. “Sometimes I get caught up feeling sorry for myself and forget that just because your situation was different, it wasn’t easy.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Alice said quickly. She flitted over to stand next to her. “What you went through—of course it’s still awful and upsetting. Time can’t erase that. I wasn’t thinking about how the discussion around Bella might remind you of that.”

Rose smiled and wrapped an arm around Alice’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Thank you for understanding.”

Alice smiled and turned to hug Rose fully.

Rose met Edythe’s gaze over her sister’s head and rolled her eyes. But she was smiling, and her thoughts were affectionate. She jerked her head. ‘Get over here,’ she thought very clearly.

Alice opened one of her arms.

She sighed but joined their group hug as requested. She didn’t even try to wiggle away when Rose kissed the top of her head, even though it felt a little silly.

“So,” Alice said, after about eight seconds. “About this dance—“

Edythe groaned, and Rose just laughed. “I can’t see the future, Edy, but you might as well go along with it,” she suggested.

So she was going to the dance. Now she just had to get Bella on board.


	4. he said

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so this came out at me super fast. Enjoy :)
> 
> Edit 7/11/18: I have removed the word "pale" from Bella's list because I decided I didn't want all of the Cullens to be white.
> 
> Edit 1/7/19: Bella now exclusively refers to Jessica as Jess in this chapter.

Being friends—or more? They really needed to talk about that—with Edythe was better than Bella had imagined it would be. Texting had been fun and exciting, but real life was somehow better. It was also nerve-wracking as hell, but...still. Amazing.  

They’d held hands. For two minutes! Edythe might have looked pained the entire time, but she didn’t think that was her fault. And the smiley face on the scrap of paper...it was tucked into Bella’s pocket now, and she would figure out somewhere to keep it when she made it home.

So: Edythe was still weird—she didn’t eat, and was either shockingly nervous about being physical with a girl, or...dealing with something. That first day in biology came to mind—all the anger in her eyes.

There was an answer to all of her strangeness, just out of Bella’s reach.

For probably the first time since she’d moved to Forks, Bella found herself smiling as she walked to the gym with Mike.

He started out their conversation well enough. “Nice of Edythe to join us for lunch.”

“It was,” she agreed. “I’m really happy we’re becoming friends.” And more.

“It’s kind of surprising to see a _Cullen_ branching out. _”_

Ugh. The way people said the Cullen name was more than a little irritating. She sighed. Maybe she could do a little more damage control...make them seem more...human.

“I don’t know much of their history, but I can’t imagine moving to a new place being easy. _Especially_ since they all lost their parents.” True and sympathetic—and completely _normal_.

Mike only hummed in response. “Jessica asked me to the dance.” He was apparently done talking about the Cullens.

“Wow, that’s great!” She said immediately. She knew that Jess had split off from the group with that in mind, and she was happy to see a potential relationship blooming. “You two seem so well-matched!”

He frowned, apparently not expecting this. “Oh.”

“I mean, Jess is great. She’s really fun! And you two were the first people to befriend me when I moved here.”

He didn’t answer, still looking a little irritated.

Which meant she was starting to feel a little irritated herself. “You two both like the beach,” she suggested. They both had longingly talked about California beaches and eagerness to go out to La Push at lunch that day.

“Who doesn’t?” He muttered, almost too quiet to hear.

She decided to pretend she hadn’t heard him. “What color do you like? I’ll make sure to keep it in mind when we go dress shopping.”

He sighed. “Well, I told her I’d have to think about it.”

 _Damn it_! Bella huffed. She was certain it had something to do with her, and honestly, it wasn’t fair to Jess. “Why?” She demanded tersely.

His frown deepened. “I thought you might want to ask me.”

“Wow.” She was actually a little surprised at how...stupid this was. “Honestly, I don’t even know what to say.” Not to Mike, who obviously wasn’t listening anyway. She did have an idea of what she would say to Jess, who deserved better than a boyfriend who was interested in someone else, but not even man enough to be honest with her about it.

Her good mood was somewhat ruined, but gym probably would have done that anyway. At least they were only doing strength training today—push-ups were a lot less embarrassing than basketball.

Mike tried to set up near her, but she managed to find a single spot between two girls she’d never spoken to before. They wiggled their mats away slightly, but she tried not to take it personally. She’d probably hit one of them in the head with a ball at some point. Embarrassing. Anyway, she’d take their disparagement right now—Mike was on her shit list, and she didn’t mind if he knew it.

There was peace in a good workout. Luckily, Bella wasn’t so clumsy that she’d hurt herself (or anyone else, for that matter) while doing push-ups. And Coach Clapp didn’t mind what pace they set for themselves, so she didn’t strain herself and went for steady and consistent.

Her abs were still burning when the final bell rang, so she took her time changing. And...part of her hoped that Mike would be too impatient to wait for her outside.

No such luck.

“What?” She snapped as she shoved past him toward the parking lot.

“Why are you mad?” He demanded. “Shouldn’t you be flattered?”

Ugh, speed walking wasn’t getting her away fast enough. “Okay, first of all, I’m not going to the dance, just like I said at lunch! And second, I would _never_ treat a friend like that. Jess likes you! There’s no way in hell I would get in the way of that.”

Mike opened his mouth to protest, but she wasn’t done.

“And before you misunderstand me, I want to make it clear that I only ever saw you as a friend.”

That brought him up short. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” So maybe she had known what to say. She kept walking, leaving him standing in the middle of the lot.

“That was brutal,” someone commented.

It caught her off guard. “Holy crow,” she exclaimed, stumbling slightly.

A cool hand grabbed her arm before she could fall.

She glanced up at the owner of the voice and was surprised to see...”Emmett?” Somehow, she hadn’t expected for him to be the next Cullen to speak to her. Not that she could imagine it with any of them, but...Emmett was very different than Edythe and Dr. Cullen. She could tell that, already, just from his facial expression.

“Hi,” he said, smiling at her cheerfully. “I’m surprised you know my name.”

She did feel a bit flustered, but she tried to play it off. “I think everyone knows your name.”

“Sure,” he said, but he was obviously amused. “So does Edythe talk about me much?” He had a very friendly grin, but something about it was unsettling, too.

She tried not to let that show, either. “Um, not really.”

“Ouch.”

“Oh, don’t take it like that,” she hurried to say, wondering if she’d honestly offended him. She was incredibly mindful of the fact that this was the first time she’d started speaking to a family member of Edythe’s since they’d become...involved. “We just haven’t talked much at all about family. I’m still trying to solve the mystery, honestly.”

That made Emmett laugh. “I see why she doesn’t want to kill you anymore.”

“What?” The word escaped her before she could stop it. Kill her?

“Oh, you didn’t know?” He smiled at her genially, but there was this look in his eyes...he’d known that she hadn’t known.

And if she hadn’t remembered the anger in Edythe’s eyes or the way she’d frozen up and assigned it to some supernatural property earlier, she would have been way more freaked out. Not that she _wasn’t_ freaked, just...it could have been more of a surprise.

Still. Emmett wasn’t being very nice about it.

“Is that a threat? Seems like a weird choice, threatening the police chief’s daughter.” Maybe this was a little too much bravado. No need for him to know that, though.

Emmett spread his hands slowly. “No threat. I just thought you should know.”

Bella stared at him, not really sure how to take any of this.

His face was inscrutable now, just a smooth smile under dark circles.

Dr. Cullen was in on the secret, and so was Emmett. In fact, it was probably the whole family, all with the same weirdness. She thought about how strong he’d been, holding her up with one arm when she’d nearly fallen. Maybe it wasn’t that shocking—it wasn’t like she was all that heavy, but...still. Her weight was combined with her thick raincoat and her book-filled backpack. She wasn’t exactly light, either. And he had the same eyes as Edythe, too, just barely a golden brown, almost totally black. Not as dark as Edythe’s the first day in biology, but close.

A thought occurred to her. “Uh, are you hangry right now?”

It had not occurred to Emmett, obviously. “What?” His smile was gone and now _he_ stared at _her_ with a perplexed expression.

“It just seems like you guys do really weird, almost mean things when your eyes are dark,” she said.

He frowned. “You should let this go.”

“I think you know I won’t.”

“Yeah.” He smile again. “You’re keeping things interesting. Don’t stop on my account.” Then he gave a little wave, and walked away.

The Cullens just kept getting weirder.

Bella sighed and continued walking toward her truck. She herself was getting a little hangry. The food she’d “shared” with Edythe had burned through her after gym and she was ready for the snack at home. Not to mention a family of supernatural beings had apparently considered killing her, and Mike, her so-called friend, was being a dick…

Yeah, she wanted some food. Damn, why didn’t she keep any in her truck?

She was only about ten feet from her truck when Edythe caught up to her.

“Hey, wait—“

Bella couldn’t help it—she laughed.

“What’s funny?” Edythe asked, smiling a little.

“You’re just the third person to accost me in the parking lot today,” she said.

“Oh.” She looked a little nervous. “We can talk later...”

“No, you’re okay. I actually want to talk to you. And Emmett was weird, but fine.”

“I...came to talk about that, actually,” she hedged. She looked down at her shoes.

“The whole killing me thing?”  Bella brushed by her to unlock her truck. She tossed her backpack into the passenger seat and looked back at Edythe. Maybe she was a little irritated with Edythe, too.

She looked stricken. “Um...he’s been upset about that since lunch.”

She hummed in response. _He_ was upset, and he wasn’t even the one who almost died. “I’m curious. What was the plan?”

“Get you alone, maybe the woods.” She twister a lick of hair around her finger. “But I said no. That I would stick things out.”

“How is that working for you?”

Edythe looked at her through her lashes. “Pretty well, I think.”

Bella laughed a little. “You could have just passed me a note that said ‘get out of my school.’”

“What?”

So no memes for Edythe. “Never mind. Anyway, this is…weird. I need some time to process it.” She felt that was a pretty fair thing to ask, given that Edythe had discussed killing her with _at least_ one person. She wasn’t exactly upset—well, she _was_ , but not so much that she wanted to cut Edythe off.

Actually, she suspected that had been Emmett’s motivation. For whatever reason, Edythe’s family didn’t want the two of them getting close. Somehow, she was pretty sure it wasn’t the gay thing. It was probably whatever made them think about killing her in the first place, which she could not stop thinking about. Fuck.

“You’re not scared,” Edythe commented, sounding curious herself.

“Do you want to kill me now?”

“No!” she exclaimed immediately.

“So I’m not scared,” Bella said, smiling. And it had the added benefit of making her feel better, so there was that. It was all apparently part of the mystery. Maybe Emmett had meant to scare her off, but instead she was just...more interested.

“I’ll text you later.” She climbed up into the truck and shut the door. Then, laughing to herself a little, she rolled down her window. “Oh, and would you make sure Emmett eats whatever it is you eat tonight? He seems a little cranky.”

Edythe blinked at her, and for a moment, Bella was too flustered to think about…any of it. Sometimes, it caught her off guard just how beautiful Edythe was.

“Holy crow,” she muttered again.

Edythe made a face and said something, but it took her a moment to process it.

The world slowly filled with sound again. “What?”

“Why do you say that?” Edythe was smiling crookedly now.

She could feel her face burning, but she tried to stay cool. Edythe didn’t need to know how useless she was when it came to pretty girls. “Why do I say what?”

“Holy crow?”

“Oh, it’s uh…a combination of ‘crap’ and ‘cow.’ I got in the habit when I was younger and it…feels better than ‘holy shit’? Sometimes, anyway.”

Edythe laughed. “Okay. That’s adorable. Holy crow,” she muttered to herself. “I will make sure Emmett eats.”

“Great. I’ll see you later.” Adorable. She resisted the urge to slam her head forward onto the steering wheel. “Adorable” was not a bad thing, even if it wasn’t exactly how she wanted Edythe to see her. Whatever. Fine. There was no need to lose her cool.

She waved as Bella cranked the window back up. It wasn’t _raining_ exactly, but it was starting to mist unpleasantly. She sighed. The Phoenix heat would have been welcome just about now. She did her best thinking when sunning…

Oh well. Her desk at home would have to do.

* * *

Because she _did_ actually care about how well she did in school, Bella did her homework first. It didn’t take her long, though. For the most part, the Phoenix curriculum had been more difficult than Forks, and she breezed through most of it.

Her mind kept going back and forth between the conversation with Emmett and Jess’s weirdness, though, which provided a little too much of a distraction for her to successfully finish her math homework.

Maybe she just needed a break.

Edythe—or Emmett, for that matter—wasn’t going to give her any more information—at least not on purpose.

But Jess might.

She grabbed her phone and tapped out a quick message. “Hey, I know we got cut off from talking in Spanish this morning, but I wanted to know what u were going to say about Edythe.”

While waiting for an answer, she returned to her last few math problems. Math was probably the one subject she hadn’t grasped all that well in Phoenix, and Forks was no different. At least this was stuff she’d covered before, so she was faring a bit better, but still…

Her phone buzzed with a text from Jess. “O. I ws just gonna tell u I ran into her at MM. No big. E mentioned u.”

That made her smile. Edythe talked about her to Jess...probably not in much detail, but she’d come up.

Wait, how had she come up?

“What did she say?” she sent back.

She got a response back before she could finish her next problem. “Just that she wanted to talk to u ab hw. Plus she said u 2 have been texting. i ws gonna ask u ab it.”

Ah...It was weird. This morning, Jess had seemed on the verge of grilling Bella about what she knew of the Cullens, but now she was acting completely disinterested.

She wouldn’t confront her yet. Maybe she could sweeten the pot a bit? “Oh yeah. I think we’re kind of friends now lol.”

Bella finished her final math problem and still hadn’t gotten a text back from Jess, which was weird. The first day of school, she’d been so envious and curious about the Cullens, and now it was like she didn’t even care.

Maybe it was Mike getting her down? But no, she’d stopped pressing in Spanish, before Mike had been a total tool.

Weird.

Still, wanting to give Jess a chance, in case she was just busy or something, she decided to distract herself with her own investigation. She ripped a piece of notebook paper out and wrote down everything she knew so far. The list was…longer than she’d expected.

  * Immortal
  * Changing eye colors
  * Don’t eat human food
  * Don’t age?
  * Super speed
  * potentially invincible (can withstand car crash?)
  * super strength (probably)
  * cold
  * wanted to kill me for some reason
  * not very comfortable being touched, but seems to want touch, too?



She frowned at the list. There was something here, between the lines…

Her phone buzzed again. “Im glad,” Jess had responded.

Okay, something was up.

“Jess, is something wrong?” she sent. She knew her friend was probably upset about Mike, but that couldn’t be all of it.

Now her response was instant. “No, nothing is wrong,” came through first, and then, “y”.

“Ur just being kind of distant :/ Plus Mike told me ab what he said to you…” Bella replied.

Jess didn’t respond for several moments, so she returned her attention to the list.

She thought about the Cullens as a unit, too. She’d only ever interacted with Emmett and Dr. Cullen, but they’d still had tells. Plus, they lived as a family even though…most of them at least…weren’t related. They might have been adopted, but they were all strangely close in age...surely that meant something?

  * Prefers a family
  * Dark circles
  * beautiful



The last few items weren’t really anything unusual, but they still gave her something to chew on.

Jessica finally responded with two texts. “Mike is...Mike,” and “sorry b. just thinking through things.”

“What things?” she muttered aloud. She glanced at the clock—she needed to get dinner started...but she wasn’t really in the mood to cook, so she decided she’d just make a salad and some spaghetti. She didn’t text as she walked down the stairs, though she was itching to respond—with her lack of grace, she’d be more likely to take a tumble than successfully send a message.

Once in the kitchen, she was finally free to send her response. “ab me? or mike?”

The water was boiling before Jess answered, “Uh, yeah, both I guess.” She followed it up with another text before Bella had a chance to respond. “are u doing anything right now?”

“just finishing dinner,” she typed while idling stirring the spaghetti.

“When will u be free?” came back.

She glanced at the timer on the stove. “Um...ten minutes?” If she could make the fastest salad she’d ever made before…She grabbed a knife and cutting board. It would be good practice, she reasoned with herself, though for what, she wasn’t actually sure.

Her phone buzzed after she finished chopping a bed of lettuce. “Ok, can u pick me up?” Jess had sent.

“Of course. I’ll leave asap.” If she kept up this rate, she might actually be able to leave in less than ten minutes. She just needed tomatoes and a note for Charlie…

“C u soon,” Jess sent.

Okay. Soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be longer, but then I was suddenly at 3000 words and I realized I needed to stop! So it looks like there will probably be two more chapters for this part of the story! Hopefully I'll be done soon.
> 
> Edit 7/11/18: Due to some extreme writer's block, this part of the story is going to be marked as complete! I am hoping to post a new update today, but it will be posted as a separate work.


End file.
